SLA Defined Metrics as a Tool to Manage Outsourced Help Desk Support Services

Many organizations implement information technology (IT) service management practices to improve IT operations as itcontributes to organizational performance. When outsourcing an IT service such as help desk support for customers, theorganization may some of its ability to manage the relationship and ensure effective services are provided to the organizationand customers. This paper presents the case of the Colorado Community College System’s use of specific metrics, defined inthe service level agreement (SLA), as a tool to manage the relationship with an outsourced IT help desk support service

An ethnographic study of the enactment of service level agreements in complex IT-intensive business-to-business services.

Service level agreements (SLAs) for complex IT-intensive business-to-business (CITI-B2B) services are high-level representations of services to be enacted, with predominantly quantifiable performance targets. Inevitably, there is a gap between this representation and the nuanced practices of enactment adapting to emergent conditions over time. Overarching terms in the master agreement anticipate this gap; however, the nature of the practices that manage that gap is not well understood. This study aims to develop a deeper understanding of these everyday practices to identify potential areas for improving value realisation in SLA enactment. We conducted a long-term ethnographic study of the enactment of an SLA by a global IT provider and global financial services company, framed by relational theory of contract. Our analysis showed the gap was bridged by a cycle of enactment in which emergent conditions triggered relational interactions among participants, culminating in decisions to adapt the terms of the SLA in pursuit of value realisation. Further, our analysis showed that this cycle is enabled by informal mechanisms of learning, negotiating, and adapting that we conceptualise as relational capability, which is amenable to representation, refinement, innovation, and capability development. Exploiting this capability and as well as the information produced during the cycle of enactment could inform SLA design and enable the transformation of SLAs as evolving learning instruments

Offshore Outsourcing: Is This Change in Corporate American Business as Smooth as What You Have Read?

The software industry is one of the fastest growing industries in today\u27s business world. The focus seems to be on the software industry now because there are so many other industries such as online retailers that are reliant on software and the information technology world. The purpose of this thesis is to extend the knowledge on current practices, methods and processes when application development is outsourced to offshore vendors. This thesis will also examine key steps to avoid when looking to outsource an application development project. Numerous risks will be discussed as well as the processes to be implemented and followed to abate these risks. Offshore development projects tend to have more risk, than do onshore projects and, therefore, need to be more closely monitored to achieve the organization\u27s goal

Outsourcing IT Services and service level agreements in South Africa's retail sector

Bibliography: leaves 81-88.This research project is an attempt at examining the state of outsourcing IT services and the use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) amongst the large retailers of South Africa. Questionnaires were sent to all the large retailers, and various respondents from these organisations provided information regarding their involvement with outsourcing IT services and experience with the use of SLAs. The hypotheses for this research aimed to investigate the following; • Which IT services were outsourced, and which were most likely to be outsourced amongst large South African retailers; • Whether outsourcing IT services has given South African retailers a competitive advantage; • Whether SLAs have been used in conjunction with outsourcing IT Services; and • What changes should be made to SLAs to make them more useful when outsourcing IT Services. The findings from this research suggest that 94% of the large retailers in South Africa were involved in outsourcing parts of their IT services. These services were mainly deployment and management of networks, application development and systems maintenance, and support/helpdesk services. Thirty six percent of respondents believed outsourcing had given them a slight competitive edge, while 6% had experienced a substantial competitive advantage. Furthermore, more than 50% of the large retailers used Service Level Agreements (SLAs) when outsourcing their IT services. The most significant change suggested for SLAs is to have better measurement metrics, so as to provide a clearer understanding of what services has been performed by the parties involved

Implementing the Information Technology Information Library (Itil) Framework

This project proposes the implementation of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework for a mid-sized Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) specializing in commercial warehouses. Due to rapid growth, lack of process and lack of business visibility, the Information Technology (IT) department struggles to provide highly reliable business systems that meet the requirements for the business. The gap in business relationships results in a negative image for the IT department and causes situations where individual business groups contract directly with outsourced IT providers. After developing the IT solution, the business group contacts the internal IT department for involvement with the deployment. The IT department must ensure the outsourced solution will work with internal IT systems or networks regardless of the technology stack or support model. Often, the costs associated with this last minute support are not captured or reported within the overall outsourced IT project. The IT department consulted with Forrester research and Capgemini to review the overall IT environment and process maturity. After performing the review and analyzing the findings, IT management determined that process improvement was required to improve overall IT services and IT service delivery speed. Rather than focus on what led to the decision to implement ITIL, this project will discuss how ITIL provided the foundation to ensure timely, consistent and reliable delivery of IT Services. ITIL also helped improve the IT departments\u27 image with the business by assisting in higher quality implementations and consistency resulting in less IT downtime and more controlled IT systems. When asked about the benefit of ITIL, Carie Zoellner-Buell, a VP of Global Infrastructure and Operations said, ITIL has taken the organization to a whole new level of operation that we were never able to attain in the past. Using ITIL based processes has allowed us to be much more effective in managing IT by adding structure and efficiency

Information Technology Sourcing Across Cultures: Preparing Leaders for Cross-Cultural Engagements and Implementing Best Practices with Cultural Sensitivity

This research exercised a mixed method exploratory sequential design inquiry into the topical area of leadership behaviors and cross-cultural awareness that permeate successful global information technology (IT) outsource alliances. When IT is aligned with an entity\u27s objectives, strategic technology leadership is actively engaged in governance, infrastructure architecture, planning, and cross-cultural collaboration. Bilateral contracting foster and forge interactive organizational cultures however, the advent of right shoring has introduced cultural complexity for IT leadership roles born of national, international, and sub-culture global dimensions. This research surfaced significant variations in IT professional opinions as to the leadership practices, cultural compatibility and service fulfillment performance factors in IT outsourcing alliances. The variations in response levels exceeded my expectation and raised my cultural awareness that when cross-cultural differences exist in global IT outsourcing alliance operations, virtual team members must accept such differences with applied cultural sensitivity. Also, while task-related conflicts may help to surface different perspectives and viewpoints and provide opportunities for exploring innovation, relationship and process conflicts may affect team cohesiveness and have negative influences on team performances regardless of adhering to agreed governance principles. To produce the proper group member interaction across cultures, individuals must reflectively monitor their sensitivity to combinations of internally diverse and potentially contested ways of acting to create highly distinctive and desirable group behavior across cultural clusters. This research demonstrates the strength of the situating cultural theory, applies it to specific domains of globally distributed IT service operations and contributes to literature by generating an in-depth understanding of cultural influences on global IT alliances. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at Ohio Link ETD Center, http://www.ohiolink.edu/et

Theoretical and Pragmatic Framework For Outsourcing Of IT Services

Since previous research in the information technology (IT) field focused on successes and failures of IT outsourcing (ITO) by organizations, this paper investigates the critical success factors (CSF) for IT outsourcing in the existing global environment. It is intended to provide assistance for the consideration of business professionals and IT managers when they make, examine or evaluate ITO decisions. Fifty four IT outsourcing CSFs were identified through an extensive literature review research. Some of the factors were utilized more frequently than others, while some CSFs have been given more importance than other by IT researchers. A 2-part theoretical framework (conceptual and pragmatic) was developed to aid the process of ITO decision making by IT managers in the global environment. The theoretical framework was developed based on existing research focusing on information technology, information systems, ERP, and IT outsourcing research

Team Foundation and Outsourcing Preparedness

This thesis describes CDR International\u27s first board sponsored and senior executive approved and organized effort to leverage the labor arbitrage and service and performance opportunities existing in the global marketplace. I describe the initial phases of the formation of the outsourcing team, the challenges and political obstacles overcome and the decision making phase of this important organizational project. I argue that key factors for success of this initiative included a solid foundation of research, best practices, lessons-learned from comparable organizations, and most important, the formation of standard tools and methods for identifying and evaluating opportune functions for consideration. The development of these toolsets and methodologies has and continues to directly impact the decision making process. In correlation with the development and implementation of these standards and methods, and consistent with almost any organizational role, the importance of leveraging the organizational dynamics across the association was also vital. Accordingly, factors to success emanated from proper expectation setting, solid written and verbal communication skills, political and business savvy, and thoughtful and constructive organizational alliances. Although useful across a wide range of organizational roles, the mere importance and sensitivity of the outsourcing charter and its implications to bottom-line savings, top-line growth and the net effect to our career-minded employees, heighten the significance of those aforementioned traits

A model for the development of service agreements in the Information and Communication Technology sector

SAs are documents that specify the business relationship between stakeholders to an outsourcing agreement. SAs specify this relationship in a legally binding manner that assists in managing expectations of the stakeholders about the service provision. According to Verma (1999), an SA is a precise statement of the expectations and obligations that exist in a business relationship between two organisation: the service provider and the client. In order for organizations to have successful outsourcing partnerships, they need well crafted methods of developing Service Agreements (SAs). Successful methods will produce a conclusive contract that will act as a working document that details the spirit of cooperation between the service provider and the service recipient. This research investigates the development of SAs in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, and proposes a model for their development. A number of models for SA development have been analysed. Models are analysed from leading researchers in the area, from software houses such as Microsoft and from international standards organisations such as the BS15000 which stipulates the ITIL framework. Eight development principles are identified and explored. An investigation into SAs and their development is conducted. A model is proposed that is composed of the development principles. The development of SAs was explored in an empirical study by means of a survey administered to industry practitioners and a series of interviews with managers in the ICT industry. The results of the study indicate varying levels of support for the development principles and limited relationship between the development principles and the success of the SA, as defined by the number of changes made to the SA after it is completed